Japanese CEO, Staff Charged In Pollution Plot To Defraud US Navy - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2021) The head of a Yokohama company faces charges of seeking to defraud the US Navy and pollute Japanese sea areas by dumping contaminated water in the ocean, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

"Three Japanese nationals, including the president and chief executive officer� of Yokohama, Japan-based Kanto Kosan Company were indicted by a Federal grand jury Tuesday in connection with an alleged ... scheme to defraud the US Navy and pollute Japanese waters by dumping contaminated water removed from US Navy ships into the ocean," the release said on Wednesday.

The Justice Department said explained that Sojiro Imahashi, president and CEO of Kanto Kosan and staff members Tsuyoshi Ifuku and Yuki Yamamiya were charged with one count of conspiracy of making false claims,� committing ocean dumping and carrying out major fraud against the United States.

"The defendants deceived the US Navy by willfully failing to satisfy the company's obligations under $120 million in contracts with the Department of Defense that were designed, among other things, to ensure the company ...complied with critical environmental safeguards," Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas McQuaid said.

The indictment alleges that in approximately 2007, the defendants and others decided that, instead of properly treating the contaminated water, Kosan would minimally treat it to remove visible contaminates and then discharge the improperly treated or untreated residue into the ocean, the release said.